Poverty is Awesome (or A Trip to the Grocery Store)

We though once we moved in together that this blog would become a regular fixture in our schedules, that we would post often, with clever and insightful thoughts about the lives of a teen librarian and a YA author. There was just one problem...


...we weren't poor enough yet.


Follow us on this one.


After moving into our 2-bedroom apartment with our cats Mr. Darcy and Iljimae, Librarian Lauren absconded on a luxurious adventure to the American Library Association Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana. After downing a couple hurricanes and meeting Étienne the mule (and bringing Writer Lauren back a cleverly-procured signed ARC of Maureen Johnson's "The Name of the Star"), she laughed in the face of her credit card bill and immediately booked tickets to Dragon*Con.


Meanwhile, Writer Lauren was once again enjoying employment, this time making use of her skill with L's and R's at a Japanese Travel agency. At first, she made an effort to pay down her credit-card bill, but there were walls to paint, cushions to cover, and costumes to make. And also, Dragon*Con. Additionally, with the end of revisions for her YA Fantasy novel threatening her sanity, she had no choice but to self-medicate with caffeine and chocolate at the local Cup'A'Jill's. Every day. And really, who just buys one coffee?


In light of her secure finances and well-delineated priorities, Writer Lauren quit her job.


Don't worry, she wasn't completely barking mad--she had a position lined up with a temp agency, and two weeks of down-time in which--rather than posting on this blog--she scrubbed porches, went to wine-tastings with old friends, and completely ignored her revision.

Not kidding about the HP tattoo.

Then it was the end of July, and the final installment of the Harry Potter movie arrived. As geeks of the highest rank (don't make us get out our membership cards...), we could hardly let an opportunity like this pass us by. This was history. And so costumes were made; tickets were bought; and in the case of Librarian Lauren, tickets were bought in Melbourne, Florida so that such an historic event could be celebrated properly (with old friends...and tattoos...what?). 


Did you know that, no matter how small, tattoos have a base price? Neither did the Librarian. 


So anyway. Writer Lauren was working hard at her cushy new government position, well on her way to becoming financially stable once again. 


She quit that job too. 


Then Dragon*Con. Oh, Dragon*Con. You may, at this point, be asking yourself, "Why this post? Why now?" You see, we're poor. No, really poor. That credit card bill? Not so funny anymore. Those three weeks before Writer Lauren's third new job greets her bank account? Looking pretty long. We've had to bid our sad goodbyes to fast-food lunches in favor of the (cheaper in the long run, we've been told) $200 worth of groceries currently occupying our fridge.


Ya'll have no idea. Our fridge was empty. It was in the red. No really, look. It took $200 of groceries just just to bring it back to empty. 

Can you hear the wind howl?

On the bright side: we have no money. This means no movies; no trips to Jo-Anne's; no five dollar no-fat-mocha-whip-lattes to be had. It does, however, free us in ways previously unimagined. We suddenly find ourselves faced with an interminable stretch of time with no entertainment save the open page, and this blog. 

And so, dear readers, we come to you once again, flowers in hand (cheap flowers), promising you that this time will be different. 

Scribe's Resources for Fantasy Writers

I often find myself wishing I could remember this awesome resource I found that time when I was seventeen and needed a name for a character in his 30's that sounded French and started with a P but wasn't "Pierre" or "Phillipe" or "Peter", and possibly had a Q in it somewhere, please. Damn I miss that resource.

I've decided to compile a list of the resources I use, or which have been recommended to me. Here it is. Expect additions to this in the future, and feel free to comment and leave links to pages you have found useful! I'll check them out.

PLOT

Holly Lisle - Notecarding: Plotting Under Pressure

Possibly the most life-changing writing tool I have ever used, barring only a computer word-processor. This may be designed for plotting with limited time to write...but I think I'm going to use this method for every novel from now on. Seriously, it has helped me to organize and make a coherent story SO MUCH. I've got just over half of the rough draft finished in a month (NaNoWriMo2010 Winner, baby. HOO-rah! (well...huzzah...)).

Dictionary of Symbolism

The University of Michigan's Science Fiction and Fantasy website Dictionary of Symbolism (too legit to quit, guys). Alphabetical by symbol, it's great if you want a quick, one or two-sentence reference of symbols to utilize. I've been using it for HELLHOUND.

CRAFT

Uncle Orson's Writing Class

Essays by Orson Scott Card on the craft of writing. Almost as addictive as Wikipedia. Almost.

The Elements of Style Online

Do I put the period inside or outside the quotation mark? Is it Moses' or Moses's? What the hell is a participle phrase? Commas? Help? This thing is my grammatical bible, and the reason I made such good grades in 12th Grade AP English.

CHARACTERS

Developing Memorable Characters

I really love this list. I do it with a lot of my characters--even if it may seem tedious and redundant, some of the answers might surprise you. Some of the questions definitely surprised ME. "Why is this character angry?" is a GREAT one, especially for pansy characters. These questions will help create depth.

http://conceptart.org/gallery/

I really love having a good image for my characters. Sometimes it's in my head...sometimes I need help. Sometimes, I even get inspired by a picture, and end up creating an entire story or character based on it. Check out this site for awesome character art.

Holly Lisle's Dialogue Workshop

Because it's more than dialogue; it's whyalogue.

Character Profile Outline

For those who like to have D&D-esque profiles for all their characters. I haven't used something like this since high school, but I know there are people who find them useful. Here's a ready made one by kittyfelone of Deviant Art. Now...Kitty Felone is a name that is so very Noir it makes me want to write a story. And have her cary an uzi. And possibly a can of tuna.

WORLD-BUILDING

Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions

Exactly what it says. These questions are very helpful for getting you thinking about your world in a coherent way.

Educated World Building Guide

A very cool, logical way to go about constructing a world that works. Also fun to apply to worlds you already have, just to see where they're not quite cutting it.

Medieval Demographics Made Easy

Exactly what it says. How big a city does it take to support an inn? The answer to that and many other questions were fairly eye-opening! Go ahead...add some authenticity!

Food Timeline

Can my characters drink coffee? Just how early did people start eating crumpets...and what is it anyway? How do I make mead? Find out just about everything you need to know about the introduction of food into the diet (of various cultures!) all over the world, not to mention links to recipes and primary sources! Gotta tell my dad that hot dogs originated in 1487.

Encyclopedia Mythica

A well-organized encyclopedia of different pantheons from Greek to Norse and on and on. Very useful when you don't want to get sucked into Wikipedia for hours (even if you like it. You should be writing).

Mythical Creatures Guide

A guide to different kinds of mythical creatures. If you want some basic information on different creatures, and which creatures around the world are similar (Griffin and Axax, for example), this is a good resource.

MAPPING

AutoREALM Mapmaker

Free map-making software. It's designed for RPGs, and I'm currently testing it out to see if it's applicable to non-RPG Medieval fantasy mapping as well. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Ye Olde Map Maker

Originally designed for RPG dungeons, but I find it useful for mapping out rooms and buildings.

LANGUAGE

Holly Lisle - Create a Language Clinic

Seriously. You will create a language. No. Really.

The Language Construction Kit

FUN! FUNFUNFUNFUN!!!!!!!! (but I'm a language geek...) Use this to supplement the language clinic above, or the other way around. Using both is very helpful!

BATTLES/WAR/LOGISTICS

I, Clausewitz: A Would-be Conqueror's Diary

Link to the navigation post of this EPICLY good resource for war tactics, battle, logistics, and why women's breastplates don't need boob-bulges. That should be enough for you right there.

Arms & Armor

Pictures!

Blade List

Don't be fooled by the simple title. This page will rock your steel (or iron, or bronze, or bone) with historical data, differences, misconceptions, and helpful pictures. Ever wondered "what's the difference between a great sword and a claymore?" "Katana or nodachi?" This is your place to find out.

ARMA - Association for Renaissance Martial Arts - ESSAYS

Check this out. Seriously, it's really really useful for writing period fight scenes without them coming off implausible to members of the SCA and ARMA.

Writing Fight Scenes - Author's Roundtable

Marylinn Byerly - How to Write Fight Scenes

OTHER RESOURCES

Wordle Create fun and pretty word-clouds. It's great for helping you figure out what the theme of your story might be based on which words you happen to use the most often. REALLY fun resource.

OTHER LISTS OF RESOURCES

102 Resources for Writers

Leana106's Resource Page

*Thanks to the folks at the NaNoWriMo Fantasy forum for giving me some of these awesome resources!